Letter-clasping device.



No. 840,759. PATENTED JAN. 8, 1907-. G.- B. ELLIOTT & J. T. LOGGINS.

LETTER OLAS PING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26. 1906.

lmwtws .UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ULAUD B. ELLIOTT AND JOHN T. LOGG'INS, OF HEMPSTEAD, TEXAS;LETTER-CLASPING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 8, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CLAUD B. ELLIOTT and JOHN T. LOGGINS, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Hempstead, in the county of Waller andState of Texas, have invented new and useful Improvements in Letter-Clasping Devices, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention pertains to means for clasping letters and the like; andit has for its ob ject to provide a simple and inexpensive deviceconstructed with a view of being fastened in an open state and placed ina pigeonhole, so as to receive letters, and of being then expeditiouslyclosed and fastened in a closed state in order to tightly clasp and holdthe letters until the same reach their destination.

With the foregoing in mind the invention will be fully understood fromthe following description and claims when the same are read inconnection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, in Which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the deviceconstituting the present and preferred embodiment of our invention, asthe same appears when the clamping members are secured in a partly-openposition. Fig. 2 is a side elevation with the clamping members fullyopened and secured in such position. Fig. 3 is a detail enlarged sectionillustrating the arrangement of the fastening member and the set-screwof the device relative to one of the clamping members thereof.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of thedrawings, re-

ferring to which A is the base of our novel device, which is rectangularin form and is preferably, though not necessarily, made of metal. I

B and C are the clamping members of the device, which are in the form ofrectangular frames made of light but stiff wire and are pivotallyconnected at their inner ends to the base A, preferably in the mannerillustrated-that is, to say, by the arrangement of their inner end barsin eyes formed by bending the side bars of the base A. 4

D are springs, which are arranged to return the clampingmembers B and Oto and normally hold the same under pressure against the base A. Thesesprings D are coiled about the inner end bars of the clamping members,and each spring has an arm at one end, which is attached to one end barof the base A, preferably by being bent around and F is a protection,

' vided atone end said end bar, as best shown in Fig. 2, and also has anarm at its opposite end, which is attached to one side bar of oneclamping member, preferably by being bent around said side bar, as shownat theleft of Fig. 1.

E is the'fastening member of the device, preferably in the form of ascrew. The

with a lateral arm 0, and is also provided with a longitudinal slot 6,from one end of gle a seat a, which latter is formed in the said arm 0.In the arm 0 is also formed a crosswise slot a to loosely receive a pina on the outer end of the clamping member C. The set-screw F extendsloosely through the slot 6 in the fastening member E and engages athreaded aperture (1 in a lug e on the outer end bar of the clampingmember B. It is provided, as best shown in Fig. 3, with a shoulder f toengage the side of the member E remote from lug e, whereby it will beseen that it will serve, when turned in one direction, to adjustably fixthe clamping member B to the fastening member E.

In the practical use of our novel device the set-screw F is firstloosened. Then to open the device the user catches the fastening memberE and-with an upward pull brings the clamping members B and 0 together,as shown in Fig. 2. Then by sliding the fastening member E laterally,which movement is permitted by the slot a, the projection F- on clampingmember B is positioned in the seat 0 in arm 0, which holds the deviceopen, as

which extends at a right anfastening member E is proshown in Fig. 2. Thedevice is now placed in a pigeonhole of a letter-case, and letters areplaced endwise in the devicei. e., on the base A and between the sidebars of the clamping members B and C. When the proper number of lettersare positioned in the device, the loaded device is removed from thepigeonhole and the fastening member E is moved laterally in thedirection 0pposite to that mentioned to disengage the seat 0 from screwF, when the springs D will I obviously move the clamping members B and Cdown on the letters, so as to tightly clasp the letters against the baseA. With this done the set-screw F is tightened, when, as will be readilyapparent, the clamping members will be locked against casualbpening, andin that way loss of a letter from the package while the same is enroutewill be precluded.

When desired, the springs D may be depended on to hold the clampingmembers against casual opening, and for this reason we do not wish to belimited to the use of the screw F or other means for the purpose oflocking the clamping members in their closed positions nor to the use ofa screw to run in the slot of the fastening member.

To open thepackage when the same reaches its destination, it is simplynecessary to move the clamping members B and C outward until the screw Fseats in the seat 0 at the inner end of the fastening member E, .whenthe clamping members B and C will be secured in their outer positionsand the letters may be readily drawn out of the device.

It will be gathered from the foregoing that the device shown anddescribed is simple and inexpensive in construction, is easilymanipulated, is well ad apted to withstand the rough usage to which suchdevices are ordinarily subjected, and is susceptible of being used toadvantage repeatedly.

The construction shown and described constitutes the present andpreferred embodiment of our invention; but it is obvious that inpractice various changes in the form and construction of the parts maybe made within the scope of the appended claims without involvingdeparture from the scope of our invention as claimed.

I-Iaving described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, is-

1. In a letter-clasping device, the combination of a base, clampingmembers pivoted thereto, and a fastening member connected to oneclamping member and having a slot for the adjustment of the otherclamping member and also having a seat extending fgom the slot foradjustably fixing said mem- 2. In a letter-clasping device, thecombination of a base, clamping members pivoted thereto, a fasteningmember connected to one clamping member and having a longitudinal slotand a seat extending from the inner end of said slot, and means carriedby the other clamping member and movable in the slot of the fasteningmember and into and out of the seat at the inner end of the slot.

3. In a letter-clasping device, the combination of a base,spring-pressed clamping members pivoted thereto; one of said clampingmembers carrying a lug provided with a threaded aperture, a fasteningmember connected to the other clamping member and having a longitudinalslot and an angularlydisposed seat at the inner end of the slot, and aset-screw extending through. the slot of the fastening member and intothe threaded aperture of the lug of the clamping member and having ashoulder arranged to engage the fastening member.

4. In a letter-clas'ping device, the combination of a base, clampingmembers pivoted thereto; one of said clamping members carrying aprojection, and a fastening member carried by and movable on the otherclan'iping member and having a slot and a seat in communication with theslot to receive the said projection.

5. In a letter-clasping device, the combination of a base, clampingmembers pivoted thereto; one of said clamping members carrying aprojection, and a fastening member connected to and adjustable laterallyon the other clamping member and having a slot and a seat incommunication with the slot to receive the said projection.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

CLAUD B. ELLIOTT. JOHN T. LOGGINS.

WVitnesses It. II. PINCKNEY, BYRON GLIEOK.

